Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Enjoy it While it Lasts

Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats win “re-election” by the slimmest of margins with the Greens casting the deciding blow. What does this mean? It means that for the next four years Germany will be building toward a greater upheaval than Stoiber could ever have delivered.

This is a good thing . . . eventually.

Before change can happen in Germany things will have to get far worse and the Red-Green alliance is well-positioned to deliver paralysis for the foreseeable future.

Economic reform? Not when the government is more beholden to the Greens than ever before.

Reproachment with America? Not likely since the one thing the Bushes do with religious fervor is hold a grudge.

Enhanced global prestige? They’ve just allied themselves with Iraq. The best Schroeder can hope for now is a disastrous allied defeat at the hands of the Republican Guards.

In the meantime, Europe and the rest of the world will be moving in a different direction, presumably forward, while Germany attempts to square the circle it has sold to the voters: less unemployment with more job security, less military action and more national security, less police action and more personal security.